Snow melting apparatus



, Jan. 3, 1956 c, w. BROS ETAL 2,729,000

SNOW MELTING APPARATUS FIZZ '5' m w l g I l ll INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Jan. 3, 1956 c, w. BROS ET AL SNOW MEL-TING APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed May 24, 1951 l IIHIIIIIHHHHIIH lllllllllllllll INVENTOR Cl/ESTER M Enos Ana/m: O. WILLIAMSON 01.788 0. Gum-MARE AI /e9 ATTORNEYS Jan. 3, 1956 c w, BROS ET AL 2,729,000

SNOW MELTING APPARATUS 5 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed May 24, 1951 1N VENTOR CHESTER M 31205 ARCH/E QA MLMMSwV (/zyss 0. Gum/VAR OW "Z%NEYS FIE 4 United States Patent SNOW MELTING APPARATUS Chester W. Bros, Archie 0. Williamson, and Ulyss O. Guignard, Minneapolis, Minn., assignors to Wm. Bros Boiler and Manufacturing Company, Minneapolis,

Minn., a corporation of Minnesota Application May 24, 1951, Serial No. 228,032

Claims. or. 37-14 This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the disposal of snow, and particularly designed for use upon railroads.

The removal of snow from a railroad right of way is customarily done either by blowing the snow off to the side or loading the snow onto cars traveling on parallel tracks, in either case a snow plow being used to pick up and discharge the snow in the desired manner. In many cases, however, such disposal of the snow is impractical, due either to the nature of the surroundings at each side of the right of way or to traffic conditions upon the passing tracks, and it is the primary object of our invention to provide an apparatus by means of which the snow may be picked up from the track and blown rearwardly into a specially constructed tank car wherein the snow is melted to at least a slushy condition and stored in such condition until it can be disposed of into a convenient Waterway or sewer. Thus the snow removal does not interfere in any way with traffic on adjacent tracks and it requires a minimum of equipment and manpower. Further in accordance with this object of our invention we provide an apparatus of this nature by the use of which the snow may not only be melted, as just described, but may also be cast aside or loaded into a car on an adjacent track, thus making the apparatus adaptable to all working conditions which may be encountered.

Equipment for loading and then melting snow is not entirely unknown, but according to our invention we present an improved apparatus wherein the snow is plowed up and cast rearwardly by means of a rotary snow plow, which reduces the volume of the snow about five times, and then provide a profusion of hot water sprays between which the snow is cast and by which the very small, compacted and discrete pieces of the snow, which result from rotary plowing, are very rapidly melted. It is to be observed that according to our invention hot water is sprayed onto the snow as contrasted to previous methods wherein the snow is simply dumped into a large body of hot water. The melting action is very distinctly different, since the action of the hot water sprays will melt snow a great deal faster than will a large body of hot water into which snow is dumpedin large and irregular chunks. It is further known that there is a pronounced tendency for water immediately surrounding the snow to assume substantially the same temperature thereof so that there is very little differential in the temperature of the material being melted and the medium doing the melting. The continuous hot water sprays striking the very small pieces of snow according to our invention results in a continuous agitation and intermingling of the hot water and snow with the result that the melting action is very materially accelerated.

Another object of our invention is to provide an apparatus for melting snow as just described, which apparatus is comparatively simple in construction and as built up into a specially constructed tank car, mounted upon ordinary railway trucks, and with a rotary snow 2,729,000 Patented Jan. 3, 1956 plow at the front for delivering the snow either into the car for melting, or for casting the snow to the side or loading the snow onto a car, whichever may be desired. This apparatus consists of a single tank, as contrasted to previous machines with which we are familiar, wherein a plurality of tanks are employed, and in our invention the necessary storage space for a starting volume of hot water is provided by means of a baffle adjacent the forepart of the tank and forwardly of which the starting water is brought to a very high temperature by the action of steam heating means. As the snow melting operation begins, water is pumped from this starting volume into sprays, also located at the forepart of the tank, which are arranged to spray the water inwardly into the path of the snow delivered from the rotary plow, and as the volume of fluid in the tank is built up by the melted snow the fiuid cascades over the aforesaid baffle and into the rear portion of the tank in which steam heating means is also employed to maintain the entire body of water and snow in a heated, fluid condition. Actually the snow is cast beyond the sprays and into the tank rearwardly of said bafile, but the use of steam heating means, both forwardly and rearwardly of the baffle, insures the continual heating of the entire fluid volume so that no attention is required upon the part of the operator and no adjustment of valves is necessary to regulate the flow of water from one point to another in the tank. The action may be continued until the entire tank is filled to a level well above the baffle, and when this level is reached the apparatus is run to a convenient waterway or sewer and large dump valves are opened at the sides of the apparatus to drain the tank. In this latter operation, however, the portion of the tank forward of the battle is kept full, up to the level of the upper edge of the balfie, to maintain the starting volume necessary for the next cycle of operation. The apparatus is adapted further to be propelled by a pushing steam locomotive, which not only operates to move the apparatus, but supplies the steam necessary for the snow melting operation.

Another object of our invention is to provide, in conjunction with a snow melting apparatus of this nature, an improved plow-shaped scarifier and a raising and lowering mechanism therefor which embodies a hydraulic adjusting ram with a pressure release valve, which will allow the ram to telescope and the scarifier to move upwardly and rearwardly should it strike an obstruction such as a frog or the like.

These and other more detailed and specific objects will be disclosed in the course of the following specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a side elevation of an apparatus according to our invention and showing the same as coupled to a locomotive, onecasting chute of the rotary snow plow being shown in dotted lines as rotated to a position for blowing snow ofi to the side.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the apparatus.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view through the forepart of the apparatus with most of the snow plow omitted and a part of the cab and engine housing shown in side elevation.

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken substantially along the line 44 in Fig. 3.

Fig. 5 is a somewhat schematic perspective view of the steam and hot water piping and the snow melting sprays.

Referring now more particularly and by reference characters to the drawing, our improved snow melting apparatus comprises a specially constructed tank car, designated generally at 10, supported upon a frame ll, carried by conventional railway trucks 12 and provided at the rear with the usual coupling 13 by which it may be attached to the front end of a steam locomotive A to propel the car along the rails, designated at B. The forepart of the car is substantially rectangular in cross section, having side Walls 14 and a flat top 15, whereas the longer rear portion 16 of the car is cylindrical. An operators cab 17 is disposed at the upper front end of the car at which pointthe top of the square section inclines downwardly and forwardly, as designated at 18. A conventional rotary, dual-rotor snow plow, indicated generally at C, is mounted by means of a hitch D on the front end of the car and the two rotary casting chutes E of this plow are normally turnedrearwardly in such fashion as to cast the plowed snow upwardly and rearwardly into receiving chutes 19 which are formed by means of a suitably shaped cross plate 19 spaced from the aforesaid downwardly and forwardly inclined portion 18 of the car top. These receiving chutes 19 open at 20 rearwardly into a spray compartment 21 in the forepart of the car, and beneath this spray compartment there is formed a comparatively shallow retaining or storage compartment 22 in which is stored an initial pond or starting volume of water for the spraying operation. At the front end of the retaining compartment 22 the same is closed by a cross sheet 23 extending upwardly from the tank bottom to the aforesaid cross plate 19 and forwardly of this sheet there is a compartment 24 for the reception of one or more internal combustion engines, designated at 25-26, and of a water pump 27 which is operated by one or both'engines. Both engines are utilized for the operation of the rotary snow plow C, and since the operating connections between the engines and the pump and plow are not material to the understanding of our invention they are not shown or described in detail herein. The aforesaid retaining compartment 22 is further defined and closed at its rear by means of a bathe 23, or partition member, shaped to fit the cylindrical portion of the bottom of the car at which the bathe is placed, and extending upwardly only to a point well below the center of the tank. An expanded metal grating 29 covers the compartment 22 in order to help exclude therefrom any debris which may be plowed up along with the snow and to hold up any snow that is not completely melted so as to insure a suction of only water in the front or pond compartment 22.

The intake of the pump 27 is connected by means of a flexible connection 30 to a Y-fitting 31 and thence to rearwardly extending suction pipes 32 and 33 located in the storage compartment 22 and extending almost to the baffie 28. The discharge side of the pump 27 is connected by a similar flexible connection 34 to an upwardly directed manifold pipe 35 on the upper end of which there oppositely extends, in lateral directions, header pipes 36 and 37 having upwardly and rearwardly inclined extremities 38 and 39 located immediately within the sides 14 0f the car and just to the rear of the chute openings 20. Connection is made from these pipes 38--39 to rearwardly extending horizontal hot water pipes 40-41, located in the top of the aforesaid spray compartment 21, and from which pipes 40-41 there depends a plurality of water spray legs, indicated throughout at 42. Spray nozzles 43 are provided on the inner sides of the aforesaid spray legs 42 in such manner that the hot water delivered from the pump 27 will be directed inwardly from a bank of sprays at each side of the spray compartment 21, as is indicated in Fig. 4. The spray legs 42 diminish in length toward the rear of the spray pipes 4041 since there is, of course, less water available for the rearmost spray legs, and as will be noted in Fig. 3 the spray nozzles 43 on the forwardmost legs 42 are arranged in a spiral so that the uppermost nozzles direct the water in a more rearward direction, while the lowermost nozzles progressively direct the water more directly inward. This arrangement is necessary for the reason that the snow issuing from the chute opening 20 might otherwise have its rearward travel impeded by immediately contacting sprays moving directly inward, as will be understood.

The aforesaid flexible connections 30-34 for the pump 27 facilitate the alignment of the pump with the associated piping and may be of any commercially available type. It may further be noted at this point that the top 15 of the forepart of the car is elevated somewhat with respect to the cylindrical rear portion thereof, thus providing space for the rearwardly directed spray pipes 4041 and bringing the spray legs 42 upward so that the sprays issuing therefrom will meet the full body of the snow blown rearward from the opening 20.

The water is heated by live steam taken from the locomotive A through a fitting, appearing at 44 in Fig. 1, to a steam supply pipe 45, which extends forwardly through the lower side portion of the car 10, and upwardly at 45 into the cab 17. At this point the supply pipe is connected to a pair of control valves 4647, and from the valve 46 there runs a steam line 48 back rearwardly into the car through the compartment 24 from which it emerges at the center of the cross sheet 23 into the storage compartment 22 above the hot water intake of the pump. From this point the steam line '48 angles downwardly at 49 and is connected to a rearwardly extending steam manifold 50 located between the aforesaid suction pipes 3233. Conventional pot-type circulating steam heaters 51 depend at intervals from the manifold .59 to heat the water in the compartment 22, and as shown in Fig. 5 air suction pipes 52 extend upwardly .from these heaters for the usual purpose. From the other control valve 47 a steam line 53 extends rearwardly down into the car into the compartment 24 and thenpasses rearwardly entirely through the storage compartment 22, beyond and through the bafiie 28, at which point this line is connected to a rear steam manifold 54 located at the lower center of the cylindrical portion 16 of the car. This manifold 54 extends almost to the rear end 55 of the car and is provided at intervals with conventional guntype circulating steam heaters 56. As here shown there are four of such heaters 56 and the two forward heaters are turned rearwardly, while the two at the rear are turned forwardly in order to obtain the maximum heating and turbulent eifect upon the Water and slushy snow in the rear portion of the tank.

It is, of course, necessary to periodically empty the tank and for this purpose we provide, at each'side, a pair of dump gates, which are indicated at 57. One pair of gates is, of course, located forwardly of the baffle 28 and the other to the rear, and while these gatesmay be operated in any desired manner we have herein shown control handles 58 pivoted atop the car and having operating connections 59 extending downwardly through the car to the gates. In order to reach these operating handles 58 the car is provided with a centrally located ladder 60 .at each side leading to rail enclosed walk ways 62 atop the car, and for mounting to the cab 17 ladders 63 are provided and steps 64 enable the operator to move from the cab up onto the walk ways 62 without dismounting from the car. A manhole 65 is also provided at the rear of the car to obtain access to the-interior thereof.

A plow shaped or V-shaped scarifier 66 is arranged beneath the forepart of the car and is suspended by parallel acting links 67 and 68, pivoted at 69 and 70, respectively, to the frame 11. This scarifier is raised and lowered by means of a telescopic hydraulic or fluid actuated ram, the cylinder 71 of which is attached to the rear pivot connection 70 and the plunger 72 of which is extended forward and downward where it is pivotally connected at 73 to the lower end of the forward link 67 and to the scarifier blade. There is, of course, a pivot connection 74 between the rear link 63 and the blade. This arrange ment is obviously such that the admission of fluid to. the ram cylinder, to project the plunger forwardly, will swing the links 6763 downwardly and forward to lower and hold the scarifier in working position. The opposite admission of fluid to the ram cylinder 71 will, of course, elevate the scarifier when its use is not desired, and while the hydraulic supply system to this ram is largely conventional, it will be noted in Fig. 3 that a pressure release valve 75 is provided in the fluid line which supplies fluid for holding the scarifier down at its working position. This is of importance for the reason that the build-up of pressure, should the scarifier strike a frog or other obstruction, will cause this valve 75 to open and bleed off fluid to the reservoir of the system so that the scarifier may swing upward and clear such obstruction without breakage of any of the parts.

in the operation of the snow melter the car is pushed forward over the track to be cleared and the plow C will plow up and compact the snow, blowing it upwardly and rearwardly through the chutes 19, from which the snow issues at high velocity rearwardly from the openings 20 in the form of a cloud or profusion of small, compacted pieces which pass between the spray legs 4-2. The water in the compartment 22 is, of course, heated previously to starting the operation by the action of the steam heaters 51,'and the pump 27 will drive this hot water upward through the piping 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 and 41 so that the hot water will issue in the form of a profusion of sprays from the nozzles 43. Thus the hot water is sprayed onto the snow as it passes between the spray nozzles, causihg a very rapid reduction of the snow to a completely fluid, or at least a slushy condition, and as the snow is melted the resulting increase in the water volume in the tank causes the water to cascade over the baffle 2S and into the rear portion of the car wherein it is maintained in' its heated condition by action of the heaters 56. In practice the snow may in part be blown rearwardly beyond the sprays and into the rear portion of the car,

but the heaters being arranged both forwardly and rearwardly of the baffle 28 insures that the water will be kept at a temperature such as to maintain a very rapid melting rate for the snow throughout the operation. The melting cycle may continue until the water and slush builds up to about the level designated at 76 in Fig. 3 at which point the snow melter is run to the most convenient waterway or sewer and the dump gates 57 are opened to discharge the water. There is, however, maintained a sufiicient volume of water in the storage compartment 22. to fill same and this smaller volume of water is, of course, quickly brought to a high temperature by action of the heaters 51, ready for the next melting of snow. It will be noted that no labor is necessary to distribute the snow or the water about in the tank due to the action of the bafiie 28, which initially confines enough water to start the operation and then permits the water to cascade into the rear portion of the car, and due also to the fact that the rotary snow' plow delivers the snow with a velocity such as to blow it the entire length of the spray chamber. The use of a rotary plow is also of distinct advantage and is believed to be novel in conjunction with a snow melting apparatus, the advantage lying in the fact that this type of plow will compact the snow about five times and then deliver the snow in the form of discrete, small pieces upon which the action of the hot water sprays will have the maximum melting effect. There is a continuous agitation and intermingling of the hot water and the small pieces of snow such as to counteract any tendency for the material not to be melted due to the immediately surrounding medium doing the melting reaching the same temperature, as is the case where the snow is simply dumped indiscriminately into a body of hot water.

As indicated in the dotted lines E in Fig. 1, the casting chutes E of the rotary snow plow may, at any time, be turned to the side so that the same apparatus may be utilized for blowing the snow off to the side of the track or loading the plowed snow onto the car upon an adjacent track. Thus the apparatus is so versatile as to meet almost all working conditions, which is a distinct and obvious advantage from a practical and expense standpoint.

Added storage space for melted snow may be provided by coupling a tank car behind the melting car as will be understood.

It is understood that suitable modifications may be made in the structure as disclosed, provided such modifications come within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. Having now therefore fully illustrated and described our invention, what we claim to be new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A traveling snow melter for use with snow plowing means which compacts the snow as it is plowed and delivers the snow at high velocity and in compacted particles, comprising a wheel borne enclosed and elongated tank having a spray chamber in its forward end and means at the forward end thereof to direct the snow from said plowing means rearwardly and horizontally in a path adjacent the top of the spray chamber, a baffle extending crosswise of the tank and forming in conjunction with adjacent lower portions of the tank itself open-topped storage means for a volume of starting water at the bot tom of the spray chamber and below the path of the snow, means for injecting live steam into the starting water to heat the same, a series of inwardly directed spray nozzles at the sides of the spray chamber and spaced so that the snow as it follows said path will pass between the nozzles, means for pumping and recirculating heated starting water through said nozzles to direct a profusion of hot water sprays upon the snow, the portion of the tank rearwardly of the baffle communicating with the upper part of the spray chamber so that accumulated melted snow and slush will flow rearwardly into the rear of the tank and as the melting operation continues the water and slush level in the tank spray chamber will rise above the said baffle, means for also injecting live steam into the water accumulating behind the bathe, and means for dumping water and slush from the rear of the tank while leaving a new starting supply of water forwardly of the said baffle.

2. A snow melter for use with a snow plow which compacts the snow as it is plowed and delivers the snow at high velocity and in compacted particles, comprising a wheel borne enclosed and elongated tank having a spray chamber in its forward end and having openings at the forward end thereof to direct the snow from said plow rearwardly and horizontally in a path adjacent the top of the spray chamber, a baffle extending across the bottom of the tank and forming in conjunction with adjacent portions of the tank itself forward of said bafile an opentopped compartment for a volume of starting water below the spray chamber, means for heating the starting water, a series of inwardly directed spray nozzles at the sides of the spray chamber and spaced so that the snow as it follows said path and falls of its own weight will pass between the nozzles, means for pumping the heated starting water through said nozzles to direct hot water sprays upon the snow, the portion of the tank rearwardly of the baffle communicating directly with the spray chamber so that accumulated melted snow and slush will cascade rearwardly over the bafi le, means for also heating the water accumulating behind the baifie, and means for dumping accumulated water from the tank.

3. A snow melter for use with snow delivery means which compacts the snow and delivers the same rearwardly at high velocity and in a cloud of compacted particles, comprising a wheel borne enclosed and elongated tank having a spray chamber in its forward end and means at the forward end thereof to direct the snow from said delivery means rearwardly and horizontally in the upper part of the spray chamber, a bafile extending crosswise at the bottom of the tank and forming in conjunction with adjacent portions of the tank itself forward of said bafile an open-topped compartment for a volume of starting water below the spray chamber, located below the path of the snow, means for heating the starting water, a series of inwardly directed spray nozzles at the sides of the spray chamber and spaced so that the snow will be sprayed as it passes between the nozzles, means for pumping heated starting water through said nozzles to direct hot water sprays upon the snow, the portion of the tank rearwardly of the bafile communicating directly with the spray chamher so that accumulated melted snow and slush will cascade rearwardly over the baffle and as the melting operation continues the water and slush level in the tank. and spray chamber will rise above the said baffle, means for also heating the water accumulating behind the baffle, means for dumping water and slush from the tank behind the baffle, and separate means for dumping water from the tank forwardly of the baffie.

4. A traveling snow melter for use with snow delivering means which compacts the snow and delivers the snow rearwardly at high velocity and in a profusion of compacted particles, comprising a wheel borne enclosed and elongated tank having a spray chamber in its forward end and means at the forward end thereof to direct the snow from said delivering means rearwardly and horizontally through the upper part of the spray chamber, a baflie extending crosswise at the bottom of the tank and forming in conjunction with adjacent portions of the tank itself forward of said baffle an open-topped storage compartment for a volume of starting water below the spray chamber, a grating covering the top of said compartment, means for heating the water lying below said grating, a series of inwardly directed spray nozzles at the sides of the spray chamber and spaced so that the snow will be sprayed from opposite sides as it passes between the nozzles, means for pumping the heated starting water through said nozzles, the portion of the tank rearwardly of the baflle communicating directly with the spray chamber so that accumulated melted snow and slush will cascade rearwardly over the baffle and as the melting operation continues the water and slush level in the tank and spray chamber will rise above the said baflde, and means for dumping water from the tank. I

5. A traveling snow melter for use with snow plowing means which compacts the snow as it is plowed and delivers the snow at high velocity and in compacted particles, comprising a wheel borne enclosed and elongated tank having a spray chamber in its forward end and means at the forward end thereof to direct the snow from said plowing means rearwardly and horizontally in a path adjacent the top of the spray chamber; a baflle extending crosswise at the bottom of the tank and forming in conjunction with adjacent portions of the tank itself forward of said bafiie an open-topped storage for a volume of starting water below the spray chamber, a steam supply means for injecting live steam from said supply into the starting water to heat the same, a series of inwardly directed spray nozzles at the sides of the spray chamber and spaced so that the snow as it follows said path will pass between the nozzles, means for pumping and recirculating the heated starting water through said nozzles to direct hot water sprays upon the snow, the portion of the tank rearwardly of the baflle communicating directly with the spray chamber so that accumulated melted snow and slush will cascade rearwardly over the baffle and as the melting operation continues the water and slush level in the tank and spray chamber will rise above the said baflle, means for selectively injecting live steam from said supply into the Water accumulating behind th'e b'affie, means for dumping water and slush from the tank behind the baffle, and separate means for dumpin water from the tank forwardly of the bat-He.

6. A railway car mounted snow melter to be pushed ahead of a locomotive and for operation with snow plowing means on the front of the car which delivers snow rearwardly in a high velocity cloud of compacted particles, comprising an elongated and enclosed tank arranged upon the car and having a spray chamber in its forward end and means for directing the cloud of snow rearwardly through the upper part of said chamber, a series of spray nozzles at the side of the spray chamber for spraying the snow with hot water to reduce it to a fluent condition, a baffle extending crosswise of the tank rearwardly of said spray chamber and in conjunction with the adjacent bottom portions of the tank ahead of the baffle defining an open-topped storage compartment for a starting supply of water at the bottom of the spray chamber, a steam supply line for connection to the locomotive and extending forwardly on the car to deliver live steam to the starting water, means for continuously pumping water from ahead of the bafile through said nozzles, a second steam line extending rearwardly from the forward part of said steam supply line to direct steam into the tank rearwardly of the baffle to add heat as required to the accumulated melted snow and maintain the fluent condition thereof, and means for periodically dumping the accumulated melted snow from the tank rearwardly of said baffle.

7. A railway car mounted snow melter to be pushed ahead of a locomotive and for operation with snow plowing means on the front of the car which delivers snow rearwardly in a high velocity cloud of compacted particles, comprising an elongated and enclosed tank arranged upon the car and having a spray chamber in its forward end and means for directing the cloud of snow rearwardly through the upper part of said chamber, a series of spray nozzles at the side of the spray chamber for spraying the snow with hot water to reduce it to a fluent condition, a baffle extend ng crosswise of the tank rearwardly of said spray chamber and in conjunction with the adjacent bottom portions of the tank ahead of the bafile defining an open-topped storage compartment for a starting supply of water at the bottom of the spray chamber, a steam supply line for connection to the locomotive and extending forwardly through the interior of said tank to the forepart thereof to deliver live steam to the starting water, means for continuously pumping water from ahead of the baffle through said nozzles, a second steam line extending rearwardly from the forward part of said steam supply line and separately valve controlled to direct steam into the tank rearwardly of the bafl le to add heat as required to the accumulated melted snow and maintain the fluent condition thereof, and means for periodically dump ing the accumulated melted snow from the tank.

8. A railway car mounted snow melter to be pushed ahead of a locomotive and for operation with snow plowing means on the front of the car which delivers snow rearwardly in a high velocity cloud of compacted particles, comprising an elongated and enclosed tank arranged upon the car and having a spray chamber in its forward end and means for directing the cloud of snow rearwardly through the upper part of said chamber, a series of spray nozzles at the side of the spray chamber for spraying the snow with hot water to reduce it to a fluent condition, a battle extending crosswise of the tank rearwardly of said spray chamber and in conjunction with the adjacent bottom portions of the tank ahead of the baffie defining an open topped storage compartment for a starting supply of water in the bottom of the spray chamber, a steam supply line for connection to the locomotive and extending forwardly in the car to the front thereof and connected to a pair of valves, a steam line leading from one valve into the starting water for injecting live steam thereinto to heat the water, means for pumping water from ahead of the baflle into said nozzles, a second steam line extending from the other of said valves to direct steam into the tank rearwardly of the battle to add heat as required to the accumulated melted snow and maintain the fluent condition thereof, and 3.68.113 for periodically dumping the accumulated melted snow from the tank rearwardly of said baifle".

9. A railway car mounted snow melter to be pushed ahead of a locomotive and for operation withsnow plowing means on the front of the car which delivers snow rearwardly in a high velocity. cloud of compacted particles, comprising an elongated and enclosed tank arranged upon the car and having a spray chamber in its forward end and means for directing the cloud of snow r'earwardly through the upper part of said chamber, a series of spray nozzles at the side of the spray chamber for spraying the snow with hot water to reduce it to a fluent condition, a bafile extending crosswise of the tank rearwardiy of said spray chamber and in conjunction with the adjacent bottom portions of the tank ahead of the bafile definin an open-topped storage for a starting supply of water in the bottom of the spray chamber, a steam supply line for connection to the locomotive and extending forwardly in the car to deliver live steam to the starting water, means for continuously pumping water from ahead of the baffle into said nozzles, a second steam line extending rearwardly from the forward part of steam supply line to direct steam into the tank rearwardly of the baffle to add heat as required to the accumulated melted snow and maintain the fluent condition thereof, 20

means for periodically dumping the accumulated melted snow from the tank, and the forward upper part of the tank being rectangular in cross section and the rear part cylindrical.

10. A snow melter for use with snow delivery means which delivers the snow in a high velocity stream of compacted particles, comprising an enclosed and elongated tank having a spray chamber at its forward end and means for introducing the snow lengthwise of the upper part of said chamber, a partition arranged crosswise of the tank and defining with adjacent portions of the tank itself an open-topped storage for a comparatively shallow starting volume of Water at the bottom of the melting chamber, means for heating this starting water, means for spraying the hot water upon the snow as it enters and travels through the melting chamber, the part of the tank rearward of said partition communicating with the melting chamber at a level above that of said starting water in order to receive and accumulate melted snow, means for adding heat at the rear of the tank to maintain the melted snow in a fluent condition, and means for discharging the accumulated melted snow from the tank.

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